Denise (Dee)
Are you currently Keto or Carnivore?
Carnivore
How long have you been keto/carnivore?
One year
Describe what a Typical Day of Eating Looks like for you.
One morning meal with about one to one and a half pounds of raw beef, usually Chuck roll. Occasionally I will eat a small second meal if hungry. I only drink water with Maldon salt in it.
Describe the health changes you have experienced since going keto/carnivore.
I have a misaligned hip that was causing 24/7 sciatic nerve pain along with hip pain. After a couple of months the pain faded away even though my hip is still off. I am thinking more clearly with a better memory and depression has lifted. I always had stomach issues with constipation that has resolved itself. I have lost over 60 pounds now which is just an added bonus to the pain relief.
Your Keto/Carnivore Story
2nd grade I started to gain weight and by end of 5th grade I was over 150 pounds and put on my first of many low fat diets. I was always active but no matter what diet I was on or how much I exercised my weight was an issue as well as acne(yes even in elementary school i had pimples). I played soccer, liked to swim and be outside in general. I was so big that my uniforms never fit and my mother had to add extra material so I could wear them and I had to shopped in the woman’s department for clothes.
5th grade my first “asthma attack” happened 5 hours after a soccer game while I was sleeping. Funny that I didn’t have asthma issues during games and these attacks happened always at night and after playing games through middle and high-school. I had constant stomach aches in high school so was sent to a specialist doctor and he said I was having acid reflux issues not asthma attacks…But for me it was the same feeling of chest tightness & uncomfortable pain. It wasn’t until after I had my second son in my mid 20’S that I learned the night time attacks were gallstones. I always ate 2 peanut butter sandwiches before each game and prior to each attack which I only realized later on, not sure if the peanut butter irritated the gallstones. When it was taken out it was so full of stones from years of eating low fat diets (since I was 12 years old) that it wasn’t functioning properly.
In middle and high school I enjoyed playing softball even though my weight was between 200-250 pounds. Yo yo dieting continued. I meet my now husband Lance 2 weeks before I turned 16 and we’ve been together ever since. Married in 1996 we moved to Ohio then back to western New York then to Colorado. My weight kept rising and topped out at 300 pounds when we lived in Colorado Springs. While there my sons were involved with Brazilian Capoeira and they gave me a gift of one free month of classes. At my size there was no chance of me doing that unless something changed. A local kickboxing gym was doing a 10 week biggest looser competition and I decided to join it. In those 10 weeks I worked out 6 days a week for 2-3 hours per day and went from size 28 pants to 18. I kept going after the competition was over and eventually got to down from 300 to 180 by my 30th birthday and did my free month of Capoeira.
We moved to Fruita, CO in 2008 and working out 6 days a week was not possible. My weight went up and when I was about 250pounds I tried to stop a rock filled wheelbarrow from tipping over and hurt my back. I pinched my sciatic nerve and it took about 2 months to fully heal that first time. We moved to Las Vegas for a few years then eventually moved to Chicagoland area in 2014. My weight stayed between 220-250 and in 2017 my younger son brought home a book about veganism and we all tried that for about 6 months. I felt decent but bloating and stomach issues started to get bad and both my son and husband got “beer bellies” during that time period. I eventually stopped working about 2019 and had more time to exercise and learned about the keto diet thinking if being a vegan was high in carbs/sugar and gave them big bellies then keto should reverse that and it did. Both of them lost their swelling bellies quickly and we all lost weight. I was able to loose weight and started to feel good but I kept the keto treats, stevia, and cheeses in and my cravings never went away. I made a deal with myself…I would eat awesome for 28 days each month and the last 2 days I would binge on everything I should not eat (cake, frosting, & cookie dough) until I was sick. My goal was 200 pounds which I reached and so I continued the monthly keto binge cycle for years.
Eventually were empty nesters and decided to move closer to our sons and family in Nebraska September 2022. Through out the many years I would pinch my sciatic nerve one or two times a year and the pain would last a week or two at most but March 2024 everything changed. I pinched it again and this time it didn’t go away but kept getting worse. I was walking crookedly and my hip started to hurt along with the pinching pain going down my leg to my foot. Our oldest was getting married in June and I did my best to get through each day. I hated to take any medicine let alone pain relievers but I got desperate, so stared taking ibuprofen and all sort of topical medicines. I worked part time a few nights a week in a long term care facility and it was extremely difficult to get through my 4 hours while holding back tears the entire shift. After work my husband had to pick me up because I was unable to get into our suv by myself and needed his help to lift my legs. Once in I couldn’t move my legs or feet without causing extreme pain. My husband kept saying I could stop working but I kept thinking the pain would pass because it always did. During this time I couldn’t lift, twist, bend over, sitting down was difficult which included using the toilet, and had to sleep in a recliner since I could not get in or out of bed. I had to decline watching my grandson any time my husband wasn’t home because I couldn’t lift or sit and play with him. I was close to buying a walker to help get around because after 10 minutes of walking the pain would be too intense to continue without assistance. Not only am I stubborn about not taking medicine, I hate going to doctor unless it’s my yearly check up so I continued on in agony and started to go crazy with ice cream, cookie dough and frosting while falling into depression. I gained 42 pounds in the few miserable months and believed my pain was getting worse because of the weight gain and it was my fault because I was eating tons of crap. Now I know the sugar was causing not only weight gain it was causing the inflammation driving the pain.
By July I finally hit my limit and knew I needed to get back on keto because I always lost weight easily. I prayed to God for strength to continue on, to help me maintain myself on the keto diet while guiding me to seek out help for pain relief. July 25, 2024 I was 242 pounds and started on keto again. During my first week I learned about YouTube and how to watch my favorite Ramsey show on my television. After an episode ended one evening a Ferrigno Freedom video started up and this guy was talking about a carnivore diet and I was hooked. Then Dr. Kiltz, HomeSteadHow, Dr. Berry, and Dr. Chaffee videos followed and I knew I had to try this. When telling my husband about it his reaction was, “just eat steak and bacon everyday, I could get on board with that,” so August 8, 2024 we both started the Carnivore way of eating.
We both started right in with beef, butter, bacon, eggs and pork. I had already lost 10 pounds doing keto for 2 weeks and down to 232 pounds and Lance was starting off at 244 pounds. My pain didn’t immediately go away but during the first week the pain was noticeably less and I was able to get into our bed for the first time in months and Lance stopped snoring. My physical issues beyond the sciatic and hip pain were obesity, restless sleep, night sweats, hot flashes, thin nails, depression, horrible memory, and digestive distress with constant constipation. Lance didn’t think he had any serious issues other than his hands ached with arthritis and occasionally they would freeze up on him, weight wasn’t a concern of his. He also had bothersome aches and pains in his left elbow, lower back and top of his feet which he believed were just from getting older, thick greenish toenails and ate antacids throughout the day for constant heartburn. We both tired easily and recovery from strenuous activities was slow. It was difficult at first for me because of the cravings but on carnivore and completely abstaining from all sweet tasting food, the cravings disappear at the 3 week mark and have never returned.
Finally in September 2024 a few days before we went on vacation to western New York I saw the doctor and had an x-ray. The visit lead to the discovery that my left leg was 2 inches shorter than the other and that was causing a curving of my spine because my hip was misaligned and my nerve was pinched. She suggested physical therapy or chiropractor. I decided after our vacation I would check out PT so at our 6 week mark on carnivore diet we went to New York to visit family and friends. We drove the 18 hours to New York from Nebraska and had no problem sticking to the carnivore diet for the entire 2 weeks. When we got home I started physical therapy and began to walk every morning and each day I could go further and than the last. Two months on carnivore I heard about sardine fasting and how great people feel so I tried that. After 3 days of sardines my hip and sciatic nerve pain was gone even though my hip was still off. I finished a month of PT but it didn’t seem to help with with the alignment of my hip but I was happy that the 24/7 pain relief after the fast. When I lean over to put my shoes on I still can feel the pinch of the sciatic nerve so I know it is still compromised but I’m too nervous to see a chiropractic to pursue realignment. The months flew by with great healing in both of us. We are now one year carnivore and at this point I feel physically great with only a hint of still having a problem when in certain positions, but happy where I’m at. No more depression, no more stomach issues, constipation gone, brain cleared and memory got better, weight down to 177(last time I weighed that much was at age 13 ), nails are thicker, I can sit on floor and no problems crawling around with grandchildren now, outrageous energy, and no more menopause symptoms. I have been out walking for 2-3 hours during the day around town all year and have yet to get a sunburn( I do put a tallow lotion on my skin before I go outside and never wear glasses while sun is up). I stick to eating beef, pork, eggs and water with maldon sea salt. Occasionally I will have some butter, I have eaten cheese 4 times this year and don’t really care for it and it tastes funny to me now, I tried carnivore ice cream 2 times made with raw heavy cream, it was good but I can live without it. I finally feel free of the food trap and thank God everyday for the Ferrigno Freedom video popping up on YouTube. My mind is so clear that I started painting this summer and found that I enjoy it and helps me express my creativity.
My husband sleeps so soundly now, his hands have not hurt or froze since we started on carnivore, no more heartburn or need for antacids, and toe nails are clearing up and he has been steady at 205 lbs. He kept drinking black coffee but has drastically cut down and occasionally likes some heavy cream in it and eats hard cheese now and then, but every time he has some type of dairy something hurts like his elbow or top of foot. He admits he loves cheese but his body doesn’t, and his energy level is skyrocketing along with no more soreness after strenuous labor.
What drives me to eat carnivore:
Proper nutrition needs to create optimal health, prevent future diseases and chronic conditions and make me feel my best. My original reason to pursue carnivore was to relieve pain and inflammation. It lead me to listening to my body, eating when I’m hungry, stopping when I’m full and freedom from the SAD food trap. During my first carnivore year I’ve read over 30 books on carnivore, fat, diabetes, sugar and more to find out for myself why I feel so awesome. It makes mad that I was brainwashed and addicted to sugar by people who think money is more important than people’s lives and that nearly everyone one around me are in the same situation. All I can do is be an example and pray God leads them down my same path of enlightenment.
What is the best (or top 3) pieces of advice you could give someone starting their keto/carnivore health journey?
*Try just Beef, water, and salt first then after getting a base line of how you feel for 30 days then start to add one new food or type of meat per week to see how your body reacts.
*Don’t cheat for the first 30 days and push through to get over the food cravings.
*Add some sea salt to every glass of water you drink
